In fifteen months of combat, Bentsen flew thirty-five missions
against many heavily defended targets including the Ploesti oil
fields in Romania, which
were critical to the Nazi war production. The 15th Air Force, to which the 449th Bomb
Group was assigned, is credited with destroying all of the
petroleum production within its range, which equated to about half
of Germany's sources of fuel on the continent. Major Bentsen's unit
also flew against communications centers, aircraft factories and
industrial targets in Germany, Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Bentsen participated in bombing
raids in support of the Anzio
campaign and flew bombers against hard targets in preparation for
the landing in southern France.

Bentsen was awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross, one of the Air Force's highest commendations for
achievement or heroism in flight. In addition to the Distinguished
Flying Cross, Bentsen was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf
Clusters. The Air Medal and each subsequent cluster award were
awarded for completing specific numbers of combat missions. Before
completing his military service, he was promoted to the rank of
Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

Early
political career

After the war, Bentsen returned to his native Rio Grande
Valley. He served the people of his home area from 1946 to
1955, first as Hidalgo County Judge (a largely
administrative post as opposed to judicial duties) before serving
three successive terms in the United States House of
Representatives. In each of his three campaigns for the House,
Bentsen was unopposed in the general election. While sitting as a
member of the House, Bentsen advocated using atomic weapons against
North Korean cities if they did not withdraw north of the 38th
parallel. In 1954, he declined to seek reelection and entered what
was to become a prosperous career in business.

Business
career

For 16 years, Bentsen worked in the financial sector in Houston. He was successful and
became very secure financially. By 1970, he had become president of
Lincoln Consolidated, a financial holding institution.

Return to
politics

Following his successful primary campaign, which upset liberal
incumbent Ralph Yarborough for the 1970
Democratic nomination for a Texas seat in the U.S. Senate, Bentsen
resigned all management positions and directorships.[3]

Later that year, Bentsen went on to win the general election
when he was pitted against Congressman and future President George H. W.
Bush. On election night, Bentsen beat Bush convincingly.

1976
presidential campaign

Beginning in 1974, Bentsen campaigned for the Democratic Party's
1976 presidential nomination. In 1974 he visited 30 states and
raised $350,000 at a single fundraiser in Texas. Bentsen formally
announced his candidacy on February 17, 1975, and in the early part
of that year he had already raised over $1 million for his
campaign; only George Wallace of Alabama and Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson of Washington had raised
more money by that point. Bentsen did not organize effectively on a
national level, and many observers believed the freshman senator
was running without any real hope of winning the nomination, hoping
instead to secure a vice-presidential nomination.

Wallace and Jackson were considered to be the two main
contenders for the moderate to conservative voters to whom Bentsen
would appeal; early in the campaign few foresaw Jimmy Carter of Georgia also effectively appealing
to that group.

By October 1975 Bentsen, generating little national attention or
significance in the polls, scaled back his campaign to a limited
effort in areas of 8 to 10 states, hoping for a deadlocked
convention. In the first state contest Bentsen vigorously
contested, he managed only 1.6% of the vote in Mississippi. Two weeks
later Bentsen staked the remainder of his campaign and resources in
neighboring Oklahoma but
finished third with only 12%. A few days later Bentsen shut down
his national campaign, staying in the race only as a favorite son
in Texas. However, in the May 1, 1976, primary Jimmy Carter won 92
of Texas's 98 delegates. The eventual nominee and president Carter
was later quoted as saying he had expected a much stronger showing
by Bentsen but that Bentsen's failure to campaign nationally had
ended his hopes.

Senate
career

Bentsen in his early career

Firmly ensconced in Washington, Bentsen was overwhelmingly
re-elected to the Senate in 1976, 1982, and 1988. He defeated sitting Republican
congressmen from safe House seats in all four of his Senate
elections, including Bush in 1970. In 1976, he ended the career of
Alan Steelman of
Dallas. In 1982, he defeated
James M.
Collins of Dallas. In
1988, he defeated Beau
Boulter of Amarillo. Bentsen was also on the
ballot as the Democratic vice presidential nominee that year; he
could seek both offices under the 1960 "Johnson law."

Bentsen's reputation as a moderate Democrat served to alienate
him not only from supporters of Ralph Yarborough, but from prominent
national liberals, as well. Indeed, during the 1970 Senate race,
the Keynesian economist John
Kenneth Galbraith endorsed George Bush, arguing that if Bentsen
were elected to the Senate, he would invariably become the face of
a new, more conservative Texas Democratic Party, and that the
long-term interests of Texas liberalism demanded Bentsen's
defeat.

1988 Vice Presidential
candidate

Bentsen was on Walter Mondale's short list of seven or
eight possible vice presidential candidates in 1984 and was the
only southerner and one of three white males considered. In the
end, Mondale chose New York U.S. Representative Geraldine
Ferraro as his running mate.

In 1988 GovernorMichael Dukakis
(Massachusetts)
chose Bentsen to be his running mate in that year's presidential election, beating out Ohio
Senator John Glenn who
was considered the early favorite. Bentsen was selected in large
part to secure the state of Texas and its electoral vote for the Democrats. Because
of Bentsen's status of something of an elder statesman who was more experienced in elected
politics, many believed Dukakis's selection of Bentsen as his
running mate was a mistake in that Bentsen, number two on the
ticket, appeared more presidential than did Dukakis. One elector in
West Virginia
even cast a ballot for him rather than Dukakis in voting, giving
him one electoral vote for
President.

He was responsible for one of the most memorable moments of the
campaign during his televised
debate with Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle. Quayle stated
that he had as much political experience as John F. Kennedy
had when he ran for the presidency. Bentsen retorted, "Senator, I
served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a
friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack
Kennedy."[4] Quayle
responded by saying, "That was really uncalled for, Senator."
Bentsen responded, "You're the one that was making the comparison,
Senator."

The Dukakis-Bentsen ticket lost the election. Bentsen was unable
to swing his home state, with 43 percent of the Texas vote going
for the Dukakis ticket while Bush and Quayle took 56 percent.[5]

Bentsen considered running for president in 1992, but he, along
with many other Democrats, backed out because of Bush's apparent
popularity following the successful Gulf War (Bush ended up losing the election to
Bill Clinton by a
large margin).

Secretary of the
Treasury

Official portrait as Secretary of the Treasury

Bentsen's signature, as used on American currency

Bentsen resigned from the Senate in January 1993 to serve as the
69th Secretary of the
Treasury under Clinton from 1993 to 1994. Clinton's selection
of Bentsen for his Cabinet was criticized by some Democrats, when a
Republican, Kay Bailey Hutchison, won the special election in June 1993, for the year
and a half left in Bentsen's term. As Secretary of the Treasury,
Bentsen helped to shepherd Clinton's first budget through
Congress.

After resignation of Les
Aspin in early 1994, Bentsen was seriously considered to be
moved from position of Secretary of the Treasury to Secretary of
Defense[6]. These
plans, however, did not materialize and William Perry, then Defense Deputy
Secretary, was chosen to replace Aspin instead.

In early December 1994, Bentsen announced his resignation from
his position as Secretary of the Treasury. Before election day he
had discussed with President Clinton that he was not prepared to
stay in office until 1996. He was succeeded in the position by Robert Rubin.[7]

Bentsen died on May 23, 2006, at his home in Houston at the age
of 85. He was survived by his wife, the former Beryl Ann Longino,
three children, and several grandchildren. His funeral was held on
May 30 at the First Presbyterian
Church of Houston (where Bentsen and his wife had been members
for many years) and is interred there in Forest Park Lawndale
Cemetery. Former president Bill Clinton, who was a close friend of
Bentsen's, delivered a eulogy.

Legacy

Bentsen's family continues to be active in politics. His nephew,
Ken Bentsen,
Jr., was a U.S. Representative (D) from 1995 to 2003 in Texas's
25th District, and a U.S. Senate candidate in 2002. His grandson, Lloyd Bentsen IV,
served on John Kerry's
advance staff during Kerry's 2004 campaign for the presidency of
the United States.

On January 22, 2009, the opening ceremony of the Senator Lloyd
and B.A. Stroke Research Center officially commenced in the Fayez
S. Sarofim Research Building in the medical district of Houston, TX as part of the University of
Texas Health Science Center of Houston. Notable speakers included
Dr. Cheng Chi Lee and Houston MayorBill White.